Vatican’s U.N. rep: immigration debate must not be manipulated for short-term political gain at expense of human beings

, Apr 6, 2006 / 12:00 am (CNA).- Speaking
to the United Nation’s Commission on Population and Development
yesterday, the Holy See’s Archbishop Celestino Migliore urged leaders
to understand the complexity of the current immigration debate and
recognize that certain benefits often exist for receiving countries.

Speaking to the
world body, Archbishop Migliore, who is the Vatican’s permanent
observer to the U.N., said that "The work of the commission includes
the examination of trends and impacts upon population and development
like HIV, unknown 60 years ago, and the migration of peoples, with
their respective consequences."

He added that
sometimes, the phenomenon of migration "is painted as a threat and is
manipulated for short term political gain, at the expense of the most
natural rights of all human beings - the right to life, to citizenship,
to work and to development."

"For receiving
countries,” he went on, “the net economic impact of international
migration is said to be generally positive. Although the presence of
international migrants may have a small adverse effect on the wages of
non-migrants or may raise unemployment when wages are rigid, such
effects are usually small at the national level.

He said that “Over the medium and long term, migration can even generate employment and produce net fiscal gains."

Archbishop
Migliore pointed out that "the emigration of skilled personnel can be
detrimental to the development prospects of countries of origin,
especially small developing countries losing high proportions of
skilled citizens.”

He balanced this
however, by saying that “skilled migrants who maintain ties with their
countries of origin may stimulate the transfer of technology and
capital."

The archbishop
also highlighted the fact that "Due to low fertility, net migration
counts for three quarters of the population growth in developed
countries and, by 2030, migration may account for all population growth
in those countries.”

For this reason,
he stressed, “The social impact of migration on receiving countries
with shrinking birth rates, now needs to be better understood."

Concluding his
address, the prelate highlighted the need to understand that
"immigration cannot be the single solution to demographic and labor
problems of receiving countries."